Toothless + MarthaGunn + Liz Lawrence

As curious a moniker as it may seem, the name Toothless comes from a Raymond Pettibon drawing. The US artist (infamous amongst the 1980s LA punk scene for his gig posters) drew a tiger biting off a boy’s head with the caption, ‘Even toothless, she can still bite off a boy’s head.” The idea of something being toothless, but still having bite struck Ed as strangely compelling. Nobody expects ‘side projects’ to achieve very much, especially the side project of a bass player (Ed is bassist of Bombay Bicycle club), and so the name stuck.

To all intents and purposes, Toothless and his debut record has been a creation carefully conceived by its maker. Even the theme of the singles and album artwork, a play on the famous Powers of Ten video by Charles and Ray Eames, has its own narrative.